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Star Alliance OKs Air India membership

Air India's long journey toward Star Alliance membership finally appears to be nearing an end. The CEOs of the frequent-flier group's member airlines unanimously approved Air India's Star Alliance at an

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Star Alliance OKs Air India membership

In this file photo from June 20, 2013, an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner fliers near an Airbus A380 of Thai Airways over Le Bourget airport during the 50th International Paris Air show. Thai is a founding member of the Star Alliance.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Air India's long journey toward Star Alliance membership finally appears to be nearing an end.

The CEOs of the frequent-flier group's member airlines unanimously approved Air India's membership at an executive meeting in London on Monday evening, the Star Alliance revealed Tuesday.

With that, Air India appears set to become the first Indian carrier to join one of the three global frequent-flier alliances. SkyTeam, anchored in the U.S. by Delta, and oneworld, anchored in the USA by American, are the other big frequent-flier groups.

Star Alliance says it is now working "to ensure that Air India can offer all Star Alliance customer benefits from July 11th, 2014 onwards." That's the day that reciprocal frequent-flier benefits are slated to begin between Air India and its new Star Alliance partners, allowing Air India customers to earn and redeem miles on Star Alliance partners and vice versa.

The Indian carrier originally had been targeted for membership in the alliance in 2007, but Star halted the process in 2011.

Star said at the time that the "suspension was a joint decision which allowed Air India to focus on completing its merger with Indian Airlines, without the distraction of the work required for full integration into the Star Alliance network."

However, Star's 2011 decision to halt Air India's integration came as Air India had been grappling with a series of financial, operational and customer-service issues."

The two sides resumed talks to bring Air India into Star late last year.

"We restarted the reintegration with Air India in December last year and just half a year later we are ready to confirm the official joining date," Jeffrey Goh, Star Alliance COO, says in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming Air India passengers to our global network and offering them our Alliance benefits. At the same time we are pleased to be providing our existing customers improved access to a region which includes the world's fifth largest domestic aviation market."

Star Alliance says Air India's inclusion will add a total of 400 daily flights and 35 destinations in India to the alliance's network.

"Air India worked hard to meet the exacting expectations prior to joining and today, we are elated to be inducted into the Star Alliance family," Rohit Nandan, Air India Chairman, adds in the statement. "It is indeed an honor and privilege to be the first airline from India to join the alliance. We eagerly look forward to extending the benefits and privileges of Star Alliance to passengers from July 11th, 2014."